A couple days ago we got another bacon creation in our inbox. Ben “Sweet Lou” Krout is at it again (this might be turning into an obsession for him, but we love it)! If you remember, he created the profound and deeply mesmerizing Bacon Lombardi Trophy. Now, in honor of March Madness this year, we present you the NCAA Bacon Bracket!

This year’s Super Bowl brought a wave of party pics flowing into our inbox. People all over the world were feasting on our pre-cooked Bacon Explosion, or even smoking up a homemade version of their own. While we always have a blast looking through the fan photos, one particular reader’s photos stood out from the crowd. Not only were these guys rocking a Bacon Explosion at their Super Bowl party, they also sculpted a meat version of the most prestigious award in all of professional sports…the Bacombardi Trophy!

The big game calls for a big meal, and that’s exactly why we’re giving you a heads up on the last day to place your Bacon Explosion order and still have it delivered in time for a Super Bowl feast.

But before we talk business, we recently received an email from a few Bacon Explosion fans in Northern Jersey who were putting together a Bacon Explosion eating challenge, complete with a photographer to capture all the porky details. From the second we received the email, we had our fingers crossed that the pics would reveal snapshots of Snooki and “The Situation” going head-to-head in a bacon-sausage throwdown. Although the Jersey Shore dreams didn’t quite pan out, we did receive some great images of a true Bacon Explosion fan giving his all to prove his friends wrong.

The Monthly Rubdown has a long track record of bringing you the highest quality barbecue products, as well as proven winners in the competition world. A few months back we introduced you to the Three Little Pigs line of coveted sacues, and now we’re proud to announce the release of their brand new line of BBQ rubs. The Three Little Pigs Huff and Puff Competition team has won the prestigious American Royal BBQ Cook-off an amazing eight times; only one other team has won more than once, and it has won just twice! The Three Little Pigs also has won the prestigious Jack Daniels BBQ World Championship Sauce Contest and over 600 other individual BBQ awards. These rubs have long been one of the big secrets to their success, and now they’re making them available to everyone!

Over the past few months I’ve had the pleasure of spending some quality time with barbecue legend Chef Paul Kirk. In case you’re unfamiliar with Paul’s work, he’s a world renowned chef and has won over 475 cooking and barbecue awards (including 7 world championships and the American Royal Open), written 7 barbecue books, operates the Baron’s School of Pitmasters, serves on the Kansas City Barbecue Society’s board of directors, and was inducted into the KCBS Barbecue Hall of Flame in 1990. Needless to say this man knows his ‘que, and has long been one of my favorite barbecue authors.

Calling all procrastinators! The last few days to buy Christmas gifts on the internet are screaming by at lightning speeds. If you wait too much longer, then you’ll be forced to leave the cozy confines of your home and venture out into the retail sea of craziness. So to avoid any confusion and/or disappoinment for the BBQ Addict in your life, we’re publicly declaring that all Bacon Explosion orders must be received by 1:00 pm Central time on Monday, December 21st, for us to guarantee delivery in time for Christmas. Although if you’re a fellow midwesterner, then you may be able to squeak out another day or two.

It’s no secret that our blog has been awkwardly quiet for the last couple of months. It pained us to do so, but we took some time off from writing on the internet to spend some extra time fine-tuning our upcoming book. Yes, that’s right…the cookbook that made headlines on Entertainment Weekly has been officially sent to the printers! We’ll keep you posted on all the smoky details as we get closer to the release of BBQ Makes Everything Better, but in the meantime we’re celebrating our return to the blogosphere the only way we know how….with FREE BACON!!!

If you were one of the lucky 300-400 people that swung by our booth at The American Royal BBQ a couple weeks ago, then you already know about (and maybe even tasted) our latest project. Remember that sauce and rub pictured in our Bacon Explosion recipe post? Well, the time has come to unveil those delicious concoctions to the world. And as a happy ending to this month’s rubdown, we’re even rolling out a few additions to some of our best selling product lines.

Now that we’re close to a week after International Bacon Day and my own personal 24 hour bacon feast, the salt induced swelling in my fingers has finally subsided enough to announce the winners of our Bacon Day Giveaways. If you follow me on Twitter (@BBQAddictsJason), then you were lucky enough to have a few extra chances to score a Bacon Day Goodie Bag. Thanks to everyone who participate in the bacon trivia contest, the bacon scavenger hunt, and the bacon raffle. Before we announce all of the winners, I also want to thank theotherwhitemeat.com for hooking us up with the awesome Bacon Goodie Bags containing a bacon gift certificate, a bacon cookbook, bacon bandages, bacon seasoning, and bacon candy. Without further ado, here are the winners…

The last Saturday before Labor Day is almost upon us, which means we’re getting close to the porkiest holiday the world has to offer. For those not in the know, I’m talking about International Bacon Day. It’s the one day a year that the citizens of Earth put aside their differences and bask in the glory of the world’s most perfect food. Okay, so maybe it’s not quite to that level yet, but you can certainly do your part by partaking in a bacon feast…and score some free bacon schwag for doing so!!!